


The Trials and Tribulations of Kim Woojin

by chudali (fayenight2108)



Series: WooChan Producer AU [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3RACHA, Alternate Universe, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Producer Bang Chan, shameless flirting, very very little i promise, woojin's pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-11-08 16:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17984222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fayenight2108/pseuds/chudali
Summary: “You know, you’ve never told me which of our songs is your favourite.”“It’s Wow.”In which, Woojin is a rookie soloist who is suffering and Bang Chan is the primary cause of said suffering.





	1. Struggles?

**Author's Note:**

> Hellloooo
> 
> I'm back with a sequel. This one's a continuation of the previous story but from Woojin's PoV. I'd recommend reading the previous one to understand it.

Woojin should have known this was a colossal mistake. How had he not anticipated this outcome. He shouldn’t have believed in the kindness of fate.

Why did he have to bring his brother, Hyunjin to his debut celebration party with him. Had he not done that, Hyunjin would have never met Jisung, Jisung would have never introduced him to Chan’s younger brother Felix, Felix wouldn’t have realised Hyunjin was his college friend, Seungmin’s best friend, the Frighteningly Frustrating Foursome would not have declared themselves brothers-for-life and he would have been able to spend his first night off in months, relaxing and not single-handedly wrangling four grown drunk men from a karaoke bar into his car.

While Jisung emptied his guts in a bush near his car, Woojin patted his back and kept an eye out for the other idiots. Thankfully, Felix was busy singing a mournful rendition of ‘Dance the night away’ and Hyunjin and Seungmin were involved in a mildly heated debate over which Day6 song was superior. What a silly idea. ‘I Smile’ was obviously THE queen.

“Wooj, just kill me. End my suffering.”, Jisung wailed.

Woojin, having known him for eight months now was acclaimatised to his dramatic flair, “But then you won’t be able to see Minho again.”

Jisung gasped, as if he had forgotten about his boyfriend, “That would be teRRIBLE. No. I must see him right now. He needs to know I’m alive and he’s most stunning person ever.”

“Great idea let’s do that.”, as he shepherded Jisung back to the car and quickly strapped him down with the seat belt.

Okay. This wasn’t so bad. Everyone was accounted for and in their senses, kind of. Maybe he’ll actually get to have a good, long soak in the bath —

“Why is Felix crying?”

“Something bout you being the prettiest person in existence.”

“It’s tRUE. Woojin is so fucking perfect, my brother is a damn fool-”

“BLASPHEMY. CB97 is a GENIUS.”

“Hyunjin. His name his Chan.”

“HOW DARE YOU DEFILE HIS NAME HEATHEN”

“I’m your best friend”

“shuuut upp or I’ll throw up again”

Woojin slammed his head against the steering wheel and let the car’s honking blend in with the cacophony of voices interspersed with retching noises fade into the background as he wished desperately for Chan and cursed JYP for dragging him off to a ‘recon-retreat’. Stupid corporate parties.

His phone buzzed and the chaos died down. Praying it wasn’t his manager as he fished it out of his pocket. Chan? Why was he calling?

“Hey Cha- Channie? Is everything okay? I-I can’t really hea-Slowly. Are you c- What’s goin- Okay, um, I’ll come pick you up, where are you? Ahhh fine. I’m pretty close by, just give me ten okay? Relax alright? Uh-yeah? Why? You sure? No. Yep, yep. Bye.”

The other four were sitting up straight, worried.

“Chill boys, it’s not a big deal. Chan’s just feeling a little off so I’ll go pick him up. I’ll drop all of you off at Jisung’s since it’s the closest. And no. He specifically asked me not to let any of you tag along.”

They erupted in loud protests.

Seeing all of them ready to fight him, Woojin chuckled as he drove off, ignoring the threats of homicide.

Chan really had no idea how many people would gladly fight the world for him.

 

 

 

 

Woojin pulled up outside the hotel the stupid corporate party was taking place. He was just about to call Chan, when he saw a shivering figure waddle-run towards his car.

Of course, the idiot wasn’t wearing a coat. Of course, he was wearing some prince like tuxedo. Of course, his blond hair were coiffed in perfect waves. Of course, he was wearing a cho- What the fuck.

Was Bang Chan wearing a _choker_? Yep. He was. Great, guess he could die happy now.

While Woojin was having a minor meltdown in the driver’s seat, Chan had made his way over, yanked the door open, slid into the seat next to him and turned the heat up.

“Hey, I’m so sorry for calling you while you were with the kids. Why is your mouth open? Do I look weird?”

“NO”, Woojin yelled, “I mean, you look ho-amazing, really great, suuper cute, but like not child cute like Jeongin but like grown man cute?”

Chan giggled and Woojin shut down his rambling. Chan’s dimples showed up and god he was soft for them.

“Thanks, Wooj. Did you have fun with the kids?”

Woojin fixed him with a ‘ _what-do-you-think_ ’ stare and Chan patted his back in commiseration.

As Chan nodded, Woojin saw tear stains across his face and all humour in his face died.

Chan sensed the change in Woojin’s mood, “I’m ravenous, wanna get something to eat? I’ll tell you everything once I’ve got food in or else I’ll faint.”

Woojin, extremely weak for Chan’s slight pout coupled with pleading eyes, predictably, gave in.

 

 

 

After making sure there wasn’t anyone in the 24-hour convenience store apart from the sleepy clerk and Chan had food in his body, Woojin fixed him with a questioning stare.

Chan grimaced, “Wooj, I’m really sorry for dragging you out this late on your holiday. I’m sure you already had a lot of trouble with the kids.”

“Channie, you know I’ll never mind. Besides, I get to spend time with you.”

Woojin was a pretty observant guy and also Chan had ridiculously pale skin so it was stupidly easy to see the blush covering his cheeks.

Usually, he’d tease Chan about it, maybe flirt a little, but right now the priority was getting Chan to feel better.

“Everything okay?”

“Uh- it’s honestly kinda silly. I’m just-ugh…it’s not a big deal.”

Woojin didn’t reply, just drank his coffee. He knew Chan just needed some time to gather his thoughts. After a few minutes, Chan spoke.

“Do you know how I met Bin and Jisung? I was a sound engineer, a glorified intern, making coffee runs, cleaning up senior producers tracks, hoping some producer would seriously listen to mine. For some reason, no one ever liked what I made. After a year of grunt work, I had almost given up until those two joined the company. We clicked, became close quickly and started making music together. JB heard the demo we made for Jimin and instantly approved it. That was our first big break. Then came our mixtape. We put it on soundcloud and Matroyshka got thousands of streams in one day. Since then, whatever assignment, project, demo, 3Racha did it together. We were one unit.”

“Were?”

“JYP let it slip that soon 3Racha would be working separately.”

Woojin was stunned. Chan without Changbin and Jisung? He knew how their creative process hinged on the three of them together, how each depended on the other two fill in their gaps. JYP was being ridiculous.

As Woojin opened his mouth to go on a tirade, Chan stopped him.

“He has his reasons and what sucks is that they’re justified.”

“Why do you think so?”

Chan took a shaky breath, “We can’t keep working with each other for the rest of our lives. At some point this was inevitable. And… I was being selfish.”

“Selfish? When have you ever been selfish, Chan? Especially with your kids?”

“I am very attached to them. Painfully so. I’ve never stopped to consider, what if they don’t want to work with me. What if I’ve been smothering them? What if I’m not letting them develop their own style? What if I’m not letting them grow?”

SMOTHER? Woojin had to restrain himself from violently shaking Chan. How did he not see?

“Chan. How can you possibly say that you smother them? Do you not see how much they look up to you? Respect you? Adore you? How they fret every time you overwork yourself? How they _glow_ whenever you praise them? Do you know how in awe of you, Changbin is? Do you know he still has that letter you wrote him last year? Doesn’t let anyone touch it. Do you know every time Jisung is tense, he looks for you? Apparently, you give the best hugs.”

Chan, who had been staring at Woojin open-mouthed, let out a wet chuckle.

Woojin gently wiped away Chan’s tears with the sleeves of his sweater. Chan smiled weakly, “You’ve been spending too much time with Young K, it’s making you poetic.”

Woojin scoffed, “If he ever stopped talking about how amazing you are, maybe.”

Chan promptly hid his face in his hands and let out a ‘stooop’.

Woojin really loved seeing soft, smiley Chan, but they needed to get back to the point.

“Channie, did JYP say 3Racha is being dissolved or…”

“No, not really. Just that all of us are being asked to produce tracks separately or work with other producers.”

“That’s good right?”

Chan’s jaw tightened.

“What if we do end up working better without each other?”

“Then you’ll have to work solo a little bit more. That’s all.”

Chan looked up and straight into Woojin’s eyes, “But if Jisung and Changbin produce the most amazing songs without me, it means I’ve been holding them back. And I would nev— What are you doing?”

While Chan was on a self-deprecating tangent, Woojin pulled out his phone to find Jisung’s old, abandoned Youtube channel.

“Here, listen to this. This is a song Jisung composed and wrote all by himself before he met you.”

Chan’s face took on a bemused expression as a tinny, off-key beat started, which was quickly replaced by mortification on hearing the terrible rapping and the horrid lyrics.

Woojin thoroughly enjoyed looking at Chan’s face as it traversed through mild disappointment to abject horror.

The ‘song’ abruptly ended with a ‘yeehaaah’, Chan raised his eyes to meet Woojin’s, and promptly lost it. Woojin thanked Jisung for creating that ear blood. It had been a while since he had seen Chan laugh so hard he could barely lift his head off Woojin’s shoulders.

“Yeah, they _definitely_ make better songs without you.”

“How did you even find this?”, asked Chan, still chortling.

Letting out a noise of faux offense, “I’m 3Racha’s first and biggest fan, how dare you?”

“You know, you’ve never told me which of our songs is your favourite.”

“It’s Wow.”

Chan sputtered in disbelief. Woojin put on a face of absolute seriousness that made Chan take a step back.

“Of course not. It’s Broken Compass.”

“Oh thank god.”

 _“Cause I’m a nice guy who just has a lot of money, woo, lemme t-_ ”

Woojin ran away cackling as Chan screeched bloody murder.

 


	2. Snuggles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Woojin can’t even get himself to talk normally when Chan wears a V-neck t-shirt.  
> Do you really think he’d be functional if he ogled?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by Chan's emotional speech during the Australian tour saying whenever he has a hard time he shows it to Woojin. And a specific episode of Chan's room (cannot remember which one for the life of me) in which he says without Changbin and Jisung he is nothing.

Woojin shakily took in what was possibly his last breathe. He could practically see his grim reaper waiting to collect his soul. Good. Anything that would save him from this hell.

“Alright, one more set then you’re done.”, an offensively cheerful voice called out.

Unable to form coherent words, Woojin merely let out a gurgle as he dropped the dumbbells and sank to the floor.

“What’s up with you today? Four sets is usually a cake walk for you.”

Woojin ignored Jackson’s inquiry not because he was in severe pain, but because he didn’t want to embarrass himself by revealing the true reason.

A loud, smug laughter rang. Fucking Jeongin. Now would be a great time for the grim reaper to take him before the little shit could open his mouth.

“Oh, I’ll tell you why.”

Too late.

“He showed up two hours earlier than usual because a certain someone works out at that time and he wanted to show off. So, he bench pressed 70 kilos, 12 times.”

Jackson just cackled at Woojin’s expense, “Come on Woojin, you should have gone with the leg curl. Could have shown off your ass to Chan.”

Jeongin shook his head, “He obviously went with the bench press because it was the optimal vantage point for when Chan used the leg curl.”

Jackson mockingly sobbed into his hands, “I have raised my pervert sons so well.”

Maybe violently stabbing Jackson wasn’t a bad idea. He’d even be able to save Jeongin from further moral corruption.

“Must you all be this crass?”

Woojin thanked all deities for Lee Minho. The only blessed mortal, the only one deserving of heaven-

“Woojin can’t even get himself to talk normally when Chan wears a V-neck t-shirt. Do you really think he’d be functional if he ogled?”

Jeongin and Jackson high-fived Minho and Woojin decided it was time to tell Jisung that it was his boyfriend who had been putting all of his precious Sailor Moon figurines into the trash.

Woojin pushed himself up and quickly hobbled out of the gym. Thankfully, Jackson was too busy getting the latest _‘WooChan Tea’_ from Jeongin to remember he still needed to finish his set.

When he was done taking his quickest shower ever, Woojin pulled on his clothes as fast as he could in order to not get cornered and mocked.

Granted, he had shown up earlier than usual to the gym, (he might have bribed Mina into telling him Chan’s work out timings - all it took was Momo’s instagram handle), but it was for innocent purposes and not to ogle. Fine, a little ogling was involved. But it was mostly to check up on how he was dealing with 3Racha working separately.

It had been three weeks since their late-night convenience store conversation and he had tried to broach the subject twice since then, and both times Chan somehow escaped. Last time, he actually tried to pull an ‘oh-my-god-look-what’s-that’ and launched himself into an oncoming crowd of trainees, as if Woojin couldn’t see his platinum blonde hair in the sea of browns.

So, today at the gym, Woojin tried a different approach. Shamelessly flirting with Chan to catch him off guard and hopefully trick him into opening up a little. Hence the unnecessary rounds of bench-pressing. It sorta worked.

Meaning Chan was definitely caught off guard, but he also seemed to take great joy in making Woojin’s life difficult. There was no other explanation for Chan pushing up the sleeves of his t-shirt and doing push-ups while staring at him and occasionally winking. This resulted in Woojin being too distracted by the gratuitous gun-show to bring up the topic.

Oh well, at least Jisung and Felix were keeping him updated since they had taken to hanging out at Woojin’s house regularly. Why couldn’t Hyunjin and Seungmin hang out with them at their own place was beyond him. As long as they didn’t ‘lightly-smoulder’ his couch again, he didn’t really mind.

According to Jisung, Chan had been working with Jimin for her next comeback. And was rather unsubtly avoiding him and Changbin.

Woojin was sure it was because of some self-sacrificing bullshit Chan had going on in his head. Even Jisung and Changbin thought so. Thankfully, Changbin was only slightly hurt by his behaviour. Jisung however, was incensed. It was only at Woojin’s imploring that he hadn’t gone on to a warpath to knock some sense into 3Racha’s leader.

Woojin was so occupied with his thoughts he barely realised he had reached the lifts and someone- Bambam- was waving his hand in front of his face.

“Oh! Hello Bambam. Sorry, didn’t see you there.”

Bambam grinned lightly and waved his apology off, “Back from the gym?”

“Yeah, just getting back into the routine.”

“Where to?”

“Practice rooms”

Bambam nodded and they both walked into the lift in mildly awkward silence.

He didn’t really know Bambam, had met him a few times at the company. He did know that he was a model and both Jackson and Chan’s really close friend.

Bambam took it upon himself to break the silence, for which Woojin was incredibly grateful for.

“I really liked the cover you posted of Crush’s Sofa. I play it for my cats, seems to soothe them.”

Woojin chuckled, “Thank you, I’m glad they like it.”

After a heartbeat, Woojin started, “Say Bambam, you’re pretty close to Chan aren’t you?”

Bambam hummed, “In a manner of speaking.”

Woojin looked at him curiously.

The model sighed and his shoulders drooped, “Honestly, these past couple of months my schedule’s been a little crazy, with all the flying back and forth between here and Thailand. Chris is no less busy. So, we haven’t really had time to catch up. Even though I really wanna meet him, I’m just not sure if he wants to. What if he’s mad at me for being a shitty friend. Which would be totally justified.”

Shaking his head, “Bambam trust me, Chan absolutely misses you. Also, you and I both know that he would never be mad at you. He understands your situation.”

Bambam looked back at him, “Yeah, you’re right. He doesn’t have a petty bone in his body. Which is, quite frankly, ridiculous. How am I friends with him.”

The both of them laughed, the ice between them broken.

“I’ll text him then. By the way, why’d you ask in the first place?”

“Ah. Did you hear about the 3Racha temporary hiatus?”

“Yeah, Jackson told me about it. Chris is not taking it well, is he?”

“Nope. Every time I try talking to him about it, he changes the subject.”

As they stepped out of the lift, Bambam patted Woojin’s back.

“I’m glad he has you to worry about him. I’ll try talking to him too.”

Woojin smiled gratefully at Bambam, who pulled out his phone to check his messages. They walked in companionable silence. Woojin hummed softly to himself.

“Jackson just texted me. Did you really go to the gym just to look at Chris working out?”

“FOR FUCKS SAKE _”_

 

 

 

 

Okay. That’s it. Woojin was a patient person, but this had gone too far.

Woojin was talking to Wonpil and Sungjin about changing his musical style and trying new genres, while they were getting lunch in the cafeteria. He saw Chan walk in, freeze, turn around and immediately leave. Woojin turned to see what had caused Chan to freak out, only to find Changbin looking defeated and Jisung looking like a kicked puppy.

Woojin instantly got up and excused himself to go hunt down Chan. He was positive the dumbass would hole himself up inside his studio.

He was hoping after Chan and Bambam went out for drinks to catch up last week, the model would be able to get through Chan or at least figure out what was bothering him, but clearly, Chan was a stubborn piece of work.

Although, Bambam did tell him Chan was keeping tabs on Changbin and Jisung’s work, constantly asking other producers how they were doing.

If this was some weird jealousy that they were doing well without him, he would punch Chan.

Banging his fist on the door of Chan’s studio so hard that the sign which said ‘CB97’ shook, Woojin tried to calm himself down. Even if Chan didn’t open the door, he would be chill about it.

Contrary to his expectations, Chan immediately opened the door.

Woojin took in Chan’s blotchy face and matted greasy hair, eyes bloodshot like he hadn’t been sleeping.

Woojin was so taken aback he almost missed the soft ‘hey Wooj’.

Pushing his way into Chan’s studio, “Don’t call me Wooj. Explain yourself.”

Chan’s eyes widened and hurt flickered across his face. Woojin instantly regretted being this harsh.

“Explain what _Woojin.”_

Holding back a wince at the coldness in Chan’s voice, “Why d’you run from the cafeteria right now? For how long do you intend on avoiding Jisung and Changbin?”

Chan stiffened and avoided his eyes, “I’m not-who told yo-I could n-”

“Chan. Do you think Felix, _your_ brother, who by the way, has been crashing at _Hyunjin's_  place for the past week cause you don’t go back home, and he has been feeling lonely, wouldn’t tell me anything? Also, I don’t know if you’ve realised, I’ve been spending more time with _your_ ‘kids’.”

Chan kept his eyes trained above Woojin’s head. Woojin couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“What do you think you’re doing? Keeping tabs on them? What are you worried that they’ll do just fine without you, and when they do, behave like a sulky child and ignore them?”

Chan’s mouth fell open. After a few seconds of silence, Woojin prepared to launch into another tirade, before he was interrupted by a loud string of profanities from Chan.

“THE FUCK??? Did you think I was checking up on them because of some pettiness? What the actual shit. No, you prick, I’m beyond elated Sung and Bin are doing so fucking well on their own. I’m so motherfucking proud of them. My ‘kids’ are fucking incredible. Of course, they would do amazing.”

Woojin stared as Chan heaved. Chan’s reasoning made a lot more sense. Hadn’t he himself told Bambam that Chan didn’t have a single ounce of pettiness in him?

“Then why are you not talking to them?”

Chan wrung his hands as all the fight from two seconds ago left him.

In a brittle voice, Chan whispered, “Because I’m worried I’ll fuck up the good music they’re making.”

Woojin was at his wits end. How could this genius producer think that? What could have possibly convinced him that _he_ would fuck things up? But what if Chan really did believe it was true? Then he needed to be sensitive. Abrasively discounting Chan’s concerns would do no good.

How could he dispel Chan’s worries?

Going with his instinct, Woojin pulled Chan in by the neck and into a bear hug.

Chan didn’t return the hug, but he did relax into it, burying his face in the crook of Woojin’s neck.

Slowly, Chan raised his arms and wrapped them around Woojin’s waist.

While they stood there, soaking up each other’s warmth, Woojin hoped this would give Chan some form of comfort. He knew it wouldn’t be possible for him to eliminate Chan’s concerns entirely. This was an issue between 3Racha, and he shouldn’t speak for the other two. But he could help alleviate his burdens.

Chan murmured something that broke Woojin out of his reverie. Pulling back, Woojin asked him to repeat himself.

“I’m stuck Wooj. I’m not able to write anything but sad, uninspired shit and I’ve read my lyrics over and over and every time they seem to get shittier. I’m terrified of disappointing Bin and Sung. What do I have to show for in-”

Chan’s monologue was interrupted by a muffled ‘fuck this’ and the door to his studio was thrown open with a bang by a teary-eyed Changbin and a scary Jisung.

Hastily stepping away from Chan, Woojin looked on wide-eyed as 2Racha tackled Chan, all the while yelling at him incoherently. All Woojin could catch was ‘idiot’ and ‘incredible’. An apt description for Chan.

Woojin quietly left Chan’s studio, closing the door behind him, knowing Jisung and Changbin would get through Chan.

Walking away with a spring in his step, Woojin grinned to himself. Probably something to do with how Chan melted in his arms and smelled like hot chocolate.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRRy this was supposed to be super light-hearted but it kinda got away from me? 
> 
> Also, a reminder for all the artists, writers, creators, your work is NOT boring or uninspired, you've just gone through your work so many times you've started to hate it. Get a second set of eyes to look it over! Shout out to my bff rads for putting up with my bs <3
> 
> Hit me up on twt if y'all wanna freak out over Chronosauraus @chudali2108


	3. A lil bit of both

“I think we should stop for the day. You’ve pushed yourself enough. Sometimes one just has off-days. We’ll try tomorrow.”

Woojin looked down at the nails digging into his palms, not meeting Youngjae’s sympathetic eyes, for fear of him seeing the frustrated tears threatening to leak.

After barely being able to force out a profuse apology, Woojin escaped the ARS studio before Youngjae could give him kind words and encouragement he didn’t deserve.

Everyone had shitty days, so did Woojin. But today had been more of a Cosmically Shitty Day.

Everything went disastrously. His weight increasing in spite of heavy dieting, a massive zit appearing on his forehead that caused his manager to freak out, horridly cracking his voice during vocal practice, forgetting basic kanji during Japanese class, fucking up the weekly update meetings he had with JB by coming up with subpar ideas for his mini album, AND massively fucking up the recording session with Youngjae, who, in spite of Woojin having wasted his time, was still incredibly sweet and understanding. The highlight of his day was the energy bar left in his locker. Usually, it was outside the practice room, but he wasn’t going to complain.

Trudging down to the cafeteria, Woojin berated himself. He’s always prided himself on being calm and collected, not letting emotions show on his face. One awful day- mostly because of his own fuck-ups- and now he almost cried in a senior producer’s studio.

Sure, it might also have something to do with the fact that he hadn’t slept for more than 4 hours for the past few weeks, even though Hyunjin nagged him about it. But with his comeback deadline drawing closer, he wanted to be better than what he was the first time around. He wanted his fans to love his music and be proud of him. So, if a few sacrifices had to be made, so be it.

The second he entered the cafeteria, the smell of delicious food wafted towards him. His stomach grumbled. Ignoring it, he walked straight to the soups, determined not to eat anything this late at night.

Grabbing clear vegetable soup, Woojin sat down in the isolated corner, looked around at the near empty room, took a deep breath and began shoveling burning hot soup into his mouth to justify the warm tears streaming down his face.

Quickly wiping his face after the power cry, Woojin quashed his need to cry a little bit more.

Hearing footsteps coming close to him, Woojin put his head down and pretended to look for something in his bag, hoping whoever it was decided to leave him alone.

“Fancy seeing you here~”, a voice Woojin would recognise anywhere.

“Channie?”

Chan plopped down on the bench right opposite him and Woojin took him in, as he vaguely registered his clenched fists relaxing and his breathing becoming less laboured.

“Guess you didn’t see my texts, huh?”

Woojin blinked at him confusedly, before pulling out his phone to see multiple texts from Chan asking him if he was still in the building.

“Ah, sorry, I hadn’t checked my phone.”

“S’okay. I know you had a recording session with Youngjae.”

Woojin braced himself for a ‘how did it go’ question, but after minutes of silence, nothing came.

“Aren’t you gonna ask me how the recording went?”

Chan looked up from the nail he was aggressively trying to pick.

“Do you want to tell me how it went?”

“Not particularly.”

Chan shrugged and went back to picking his nails.

Sending a fervent prayer in thanks for a seemingly omniscient Bang Chan, Woojin went back to drinking his bland soup.

“Wooj, say is that soup enough?”

Sighing deeply and opening his mouth to repeat his ‘I’m on a strict diet’ explanation for the fifth time in two days, he was beaten to it by Chan, who said he knew Woojin was on a diet but he was just wondering if some carbs alongside the soup would help.

“I’m just saying some toasted bread along with would it would be fine.”

When Woojin didn’t reply, Chan added, “Honestly, I’ve already eaten dinner and shouldn’t be eating anything else, but I’m really craving some bread and you having some is the perfect excuse for me to steal some from you.”

Woojin grinned lightly, knowing exactly what Chan was trying to do but not wanting to burst his bubble, “As long as you’re getting up to get it.”

Chan skipped to the salad bar, way too happy for someone just getting bread. And even more happily, watched Woojin wolf down said bread.

And if Woojin noticed Chan not touching a single piece, he didn’t say anything.

 

 

 

“I know the cold doesn’t really bother you, but good god are you some sort of demon?”, Woojin shivered as he pulled his coat around himself tighter and glared at Chan who was wearing a thin quarter sleeved black cardigan and no other layers.

Chan laughed at him, “It’s barely autumn”

“And it’s like two a.m. and we’re in a park and the winds are hella cold today.”

Woojin grumbled half-heartedly about never accompanying Chan on his late-night strolls again and Chan cooed at Woojin’s pout.

As they settled onto the grass at a spot sufficiently shielded from the winds by a large tree, Woojin reveled in the tranquillity around him. The only sounds he could hear were the chirping of insects and rustling of leaves. The day had been taxing, both mentally and physically, but he was glad he let Chan convince him into going on a walk instead of going home. Leaning into Chan’s side, only because Chan was a walking furnace and not because it calmed him.

They sat in silence, shoulder to shoulder, lost in thought. Woojin debated telling him about his day, deciding against it. His fucked day paled in comparison to the contentment he felt at that moment.

Chan turned towards him and whispered, “Thank you”

Woojin raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“For, well- tolerating my over thinking ass and yelling at me when I needed to be yelled at. Also for taking care of Felix and Sung and Bin when I couldn’t.”

“I didn’t really do much Channie, Jisung and Changbin were the ones who got you out of your funk, not me. I might have actually delayed it by stopping them from confronting you.”

“Do you really think I would have heard them out if it wasn’t for you telling me to get my head out of my ass before?”

Woojin shook his head and let it be. He’s just glad 3Racha were fine now.

“I heard the song you produced for Jimin. I really liked it.”

Chan grinned at him and under the pale-yellow street lights, Woojin couldn’t really see the blush across his face but knew the light pink flush would be there. His urge to trace Chan’s dimples was getting stronger by the second.

Deciding talking was a safer choice over wanting to memorise Chan’s face, “Jisung and Binnie did well too.”

He had scarcely gotten those words out of his mouth and Chan began to excitedly ramble about how Jisung and Changbin made amazing tracks and it was so cool how all three of them had wildly different individual styles, yet they worked so well together.

Instead of interrupting him, Woojin opted to let Chan talk animatedly. It was so incredibly endearing how Chan wore his heart on his sleeve, didn’t shy away from expressing how proud he was of Changbin and Jisung and how that it was the best idea to let them work separately and flesh out their skills- wait what?

“You’re not mad about having to work separately?”

“Not really? To be fair, Sung and Bin made me realise that we could still go to each other for advice and help, we just didn’t need to do every single project together. So, 3 Racha is still a team, just a slightly less co-dependent one. Besides, after we were done with our individual stuff, inspiration hit us and we came up with a new demo.”

Woojin felt Chan’s gaze and he turned to look at him, wondering why he stopped.

“Ya know I’ve missed you Wooj, the studio argument was the last time I had a proper conversation with you and that was over a month ago.”

Woojin chastised, started to apologise but Chan cut him off, “I’m not accusing you of not having time for me. I know exactly how much you’ve been working and how hard you’re going on yourself.”

Seeing Woojin open and close his mouth multiple times, Chan chuckled. “I’ve always been the last person to leave the building and for the past two weeks, a certain someone has been beating me. I kinda wanted to drag you home from the practice booths, but you were so focused I-”

“YOU are the one who has been leaving energy bars outside my practice room!”

Chan nodded, embarrassed and then turned to fully face him.

“I didn’t quite know what I could do for you and leaving energy bars doesn’t really help with the mental exhaustion bit, so the demo that I was telling you me, Bin and Sung made- it’s dedicated to you. It’s not fully done yet, we might do some more mixing and rearrangement, but would you like to listen to it?”

Staring wide-eyed at the incredible, supportive man he couldn’t believe was in his life, Woojin attempted to unsuccessfully reign in the giddy joy that was seeping onto his face because being near Chan meant his guards were down and replied that he would love to hear it.

Much to his surprise, the track started with whistling accompanied by soft keyboard before being joined by drums.

_“You fell down, it’s alright, I’ll pick you up”_

Letting out an involuntary gasp, Woojin stiffened.

_“If you fall back a little, just rest_

_You’re doing fine, when things are hard_

_I’ll run with you, don’t worry”_

Hearing Jisung rap in a low register had his eyes prickling. And when Chan laced his hand with him, he valiantly fought to keep the tears from spilling over.

“ _You’re doing fine_

_You’re doing fine_

_Have strength, just endure a little more_

_I’ll be next to you”_

Chan’s clear voice, full of conviction and faith, had Woojin letting the floodgates go. Woojin cried out his frustrations and fears and throughout Chan said nothing, just rubbed calming circles on the back of his palm.

As the song drew to a close, Chan raised his other hand to wipe clean Woojin’s tears, then lightly ran his knuckles over his cheeks before letting his hand rest at the crook of his neck.

Woojin sniffled, and cleared his throat, “Sorry you had to see that Channie, I really love the song, I just had a bad day. I didn’t mean to worry you, it’s just that-”

“Things came out? That’s alright. And Wooj, I’m not worried about you. You can take care of yourself. Sometimes things are tough, but you don’t really want concern. All you need is someone saying they believe in you and a hug. Lots of hugs. And hot chocolate.”

Woojin laughed, “Those sound heavenly.”

Chan pulled Woojin up by their still laced together hands and drew him into a tight hug. Woojin basked in the comfort he felt in Chan’s embrace and reminisced about how the last time, the roles were reversed.

Now that he had calmed down, Woojin nuzzled his nose into Chan’s neck, wondering how one person could change the whole perspective of his day.

Not wanting to let go of each other, they stood unmoving, Woojin’s arms looped around Chan’s neck and Chan’s at Woojin’s waist. Pulling back just the slightest, Woojin looked into Chan’s eyes and had his breath catch. He knew Chan had lovely eyes but dear god, he wasn’t prepared for the amount of affection they held.

Woojin could feel his heart hiccupping but he could also feel Chan’s erratic heartbeat.

He knew Chan was kind and loving to everyone, so there was a slight possibility he didn’t feel the same way as him. But in the face of being able to pull him in by the neck and kiss him, taking the risk seemed very worth it.

Letting his palm cup Chan’s face, Woojin apprehensively looked back at Chan, his smile soft and welcoming and his eyes trusting. Woojin leaned in and softly pressed his lips against Chan’s. They kissed slowly, sure in their affections, hesitant in their actions.

As they separated and stepped away from each other, hands still entwined, Chan giggled, “I’ve been waiting for that for a while now.”

Woojin sputtered, “What do you mean waiting?”

“In that dingy convenience store, the second you pulled out that horrific track of Jisung’s, I wanted to kiss you.”

“I would have, I just thought making you feel better was more important.”, Woojin mumbled.

“I know.”

“You _know?”_

“No offense Wooj, subtlety is not one of your stronger suits.”

Woojin childishly muttered, “It’s not one of yours either” and dragged Chan (who was laughing and recalling how flustered Woojin got when he wore a choker) out of the park, as he desperately tried to edge in a word about the times Chan panicked around him.

Damn it, if he was going to suffer, he wasn’t going to suffer alone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed it <3

**Author's Note:**

> Please do leave feedback!


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